Illustrating the government’s derelict when it comes to immigration enforcement, a drunken illegal alien with a criminal history allegedly killed a nun in Virginia because federal authorities released him on his own recognizance after two previous arrests.

The tragic event occurred a few days ago in PrinceWilliamCounty, which is part of the Washington Metropolitan area with a population of around 400,000. The intoxicated illegal immigrant (Carlos Montano) from Bolivia had a revoked license and had been arrested before on drunken-driving charges. His car crossed a median and slammed into a vehicle carrying three nuns. One died and two were critically injured.

Montano was awaiting a deportation ruling and had been released by federal authorities on his own recognizance, despite an extensive criminal record. He has twice been charged with drunken driving and has been arrested in separate incidents for other traffic-related offenses. Local police say he was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after at least one arrest.

Officials at ICE, the Homeland Security agency charged with protecting the border and removing illegal foreigners from the U.S., admit that Montano was released in 2008 pending an immigration judge’s review of his case. Two years later, no ruling had been issued, ICE officials say, so the felonious illegal alien remained free.

Calling the crash a “terrible thing,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has requested an investigation amid public outrage over the tragedy. However, her agency firmly defends the Obama Administration’s great record of “identifying and removing criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety.” The victims in this case may not agree with that assessment.

Neither does the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee, who says this “appalling case” underscores the importance of immigration enforcement and the potential dangers in the Obama Administration’s policy of selective amnesty. The administration has a secret backup plan to grant illegal immigrants amnesty in case Congress doesn’t pass legislation to do it, according to an internal memo exposed this week.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident. Nationwide, illegal immigrants with criminal records are regularly released—rather than deported—and many have committed atrocious crimes after numerous encounters with law enforcement. In the last few years alone illegal immigrants with extensive rap sheets have murdered law enforcement officers in Arizona, Texas and Utah and countless others have killed or otherwise victimized innocent civilians throughout the nation, including California, Maryland and New Jersey.

Earlier this year, an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record and multiple deportation orders murdered a small-town sheriff deputy in west central Utah. The officer, a 37-year-old mother of two young children, was shot by the Mexican illegal alien during a traffic stop. The illegal immigrant’s criminal record includes guilty pleas to charges ranging from felony drug possession to receiving stolen property and various weapons counts. He had been deported three times yet remained in the U.S.